ALL AS/A2 Unit 4 Psychology Research Methods

Experimental MethodsLaboratory experimentUsed to test a difference/causal relationship, NEVER a relationship!Identifying a Laboratory Experiment: Controlled conditions to reduce extraneous variables IV and DV are manipulated Measures taken carefullyAdvantages:+ Replicable+ High control over variables = high internal validityDisadvantages:- Artificial environment = lacks internal validity- Demand characteristics- Experimenter/investigator effectsField experimentUsed to test a difference/causal relationship, NEVER a relationship!Identifying a Field Experiment: The IV and DV variables are still manipulated by the researcher but in a natural environmentAdvantages:+ Real world setting = high ecological validity+ No demand characteristics (sometimes) = high internal validityDisadvantages:- Expensive- Time consumingi.e. Traveling to remote tribal communities in the Amazon and conducting tests and experimentson hunter gatherer groups to measure the validity and applicability of universal grammar theories.Natural experimentUsed to test a difference/causal relationship, NEVER a relationship!

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Identifying a natural Experiment: Naturally occurring independent variable i.e. research if seaside's are more fun than theme parks. The seaside is the naturally occurring IV because the experimenter did not make them and they occur naturally.Advantages:+ real world environment = high ecological validity+ No demand characteristicsDisadvantages:+ No control over IV, so chance of confounding/extraneous variables high = low internal validityControlled observationsControlled observation is a type of observational study where the situations are planned by theresearcher.…read more

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Make sure any hypothesis is fully operationalisedNEVER begin a hypothesis with `I predict/believe/think'!Directional hypothesis: use only when there is previous research to justify it. Begin it `[insert]will...'Non-directional hypothesis: always use. Begin it `there will be a difference/relationship...'Null hypothesis are only used in research reports. If results are non-significant, we accept the nullhypothesis and vice versa.…read more

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Advantages:+ No effect by individual differences ­ each person takes part in each condition+ Inexpensive (don't need as much participants)Disadvantages- Order effects:- Practice effects: if the conditions are similar, then doing one condition will improve theirperformance in the other condition- Boredom effects: if participant becomes bored in one condition this may decrease theirperformance in the other conditionIn this design it is important to use counterbalancing.…read more

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Identifying a correlational analysis: No IV or DV, just covariablesCorrelation coefficient-1 = strong negative correlation 0 = no relationship +1 = strong positive correlationAdvantages:+ a relationship between two variables can be confirmed. This could lead to further, more substantialresearchDisadvantages:- no cause and effect = low internal- cannot control variables = low internalPlot Raw data (data that you don't convert to an average) on a scattergraphsCorrelations are represented on scattergraphs.…read more

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Disadvantages+ Social desirability+ Biased sample ­ people of a helpful nature may only be interested in answering the questions+ Can be biased by leading questionsInterviewsAdvantages+ more insightful data compared to questionnaires+ Simple and fast, can be conducted by anyoneDisadvantages+ Social desirability+ investigator effects+ Biased sample ­ people of a helpful nature mayonly be interested in answering the questions+ Can be biased by leading questionsDemographic and socially sensitive questions also go at…read more

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This technique involves observing subjects in their natural environment. A controlled observation orexperiment is not used because it is important to have ecological validity.Behaviour CategoryChoose the behaviours/variables you need to look forand operationalise them so to have inter-rater reliability.These behaviours will appear on a behaviour checklist(coding system) to which the investigators will `check'once the behaviour is observed.…read more

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Questionnaires ­ Do participants understand the questions? Are the questions flawed?Control of extraneous variablesExtraneous variables are variables you try to control for before/while the study is taking placeConfounding variables are variables that have affected the experiment after it has taken placeControlling for EV:- Random sampling/assignment- Balancing out variables in conditions…read more

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Control group- ReplicationReliabilityReliability: Consistency over time or between different tools or measuresInter-rater reliability (observer reliability): the degree of agreement between different observers.Using correlations to assess inter-rater reliabilityComparing the observations of the observers is best done using correlation. This relatively simplestatistical technique allows us to see how similar two sets of values are. A good positive correlationshows that the two observers provide similar results.…read more

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Improving inter-rater reliability- Operationalising- Training: good observation skills to easily identify the appropriate behaviours- Same view of behaviours: i.e. view same video or anglesTest reliability: the extent to which tests, such as questionnaires or interviews, are reliable as amethod of measuring behaviour.Using correlations to assess test reliabilityThe method used here is test-retest assessment, or test-retest correlation. Here the test is given tothe person again, but on a different occasion.…read more